Steph Curry, the Undoing for the Pelicans in Game Two

The New Orleans Pelicans played a helluva ball game in Game Two of their Western Conference playoff game against the Golden State Warriors but came up short 121-116.

The Pelicans played much better than they did in Game One. I would dare to say that if they played as well as they did in Game One as they played on Tuesday they would be tied at 1-1 in the series instead of down 0-2. The one difference between those two games? Steph Curry didn't play in Game One yet played in Game Two and I believe was the difference in the Warriors coming out victorious.

Curry was simply, special last night, doing what he does, whether it's pulling up from 30 feet, shooting from the hip, or hyping up the crowd. He didn't start but he made plenty of contributions coming off the bench.

Some questioned if he would be rusty, if he would have to shake off some rust after not having played since March 23rd. Well.... after he made his first four shots and electrifying the crowd, that question was put to bed.

Curry finished the game with 28 points in 27 minutes, seven steals, and three steals. When he was on the floor, Golden State was an astonishing +26 in point differential.

In terms of New Orleans being able to win Game One if they played like they did on Tuesday, too much rest may have been at fault....

Pelicans Head Coach Alvin Gentry and guard Ian Clark both came out after Game One saying that the extra rest they received after their first round sweep of Portland didn't help.

Alvin Gentry said, “You know, we've been playing great basketball, and I'm not so sure if the week off helped us, really,”. He added, “I thought we lost a little bit of our rhythm. You know, we missed some shots that we've been making the last two weeks and then you know, they came at us hard and we didn't respond to it real well. But that's all things that can be corrected.”

In addition, Ian Clark said, “I would say a lot of guys were rusty, Jrue missed a lot of easy shots he normally makes. Niko (Mirotic), Darius (Miller) missed shots, too. You can go down the line of shots we usually make and were making in round one that we just weren’t making yesterday." He added, “It’s going to be natural. It’s hard to simulate the game, as much as we try.”

The Pels are heading home for Game Three on Friday and if there's a game they're going to win, it's going to be this one. Smoothie King Center better be ready to rock and the officials better be ready to call things both ways.

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